


Running

by Senket



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Stupidity, white knight syndrome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-03
Updated: 2010-10-03
Packaged: 2017-11-15 14:01:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/528069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senket/pseuds/Senket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Major  Lorne ends up running after the botanist a lot somehow. Atlantis has issues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Running

It turns out a remarkable amount of casualties on Atlantis are due to stupid, unresolved sexual tension. Or, perhaps, romantic tension.

It’s not that people fight, or- punch doors until their knuckles are bleeding, though that has happened on occasion. All technology they find is typically some sort of broken and commonly some sort of dangerous, so distraction among scientists is bound to result in some trips to the infirmary for some strange effects (like the time Miko fumbled with a ball Sheppard had recently touched, distracted by Rodney light up over a discovery, and grown herself a remarkably aesthetic but otherwise useless pair of wings) and minor explosions or electrical shocks.

An almost obnoxious number of them, however, are result of completely useless acts of valiant knight syndrome. Many scientists are required to go on other planets, after all- linguists, technicians, physicists, cartographers. Botanists. And many of these planets turn out to have dangerous inhabitants- carnivorous giant bears, suspicious and withdrawn villagers, murderous civilizations developing atomic bombs. You know. So it was no surprise the military members on base considered it their duty to put themselves on the line for their more scholastic brethren, and that when it came to members of said majority-MENSA outfit that they were interested in wining and dining, it sometimes got a little out of hand. The militant forces of Atlantis sometimes spent too much time overreacting

So it was no surprise that Lorne found himself sitting on the edge of a cot in the infirmary, looking rather sheepish as a certain botanist leaned against the door with an eyebrow raised, watching with a distinctly unimpressed expression, lips pursed, as a nurse wrapped up the man’s shoulder.

The lanky man only wandered over once the immediate area had cleared, sitting on the foot of the admittedly small bed with his arms crossed, imitating that ‘you’re a real idiot, you know that?’ look he had perfected. It was just belittling enough that Lorne felt guilty, but not harassed. “Did you know that on PX9-78O,showing off your weapons proficiency is the accepted way of telling someone you’re entirely worthy of having an affair with?”

“Uh. No?”

“I see. Did you know that intercepting such a display amounts to the same as a pair of stags locking horns? No?” Both eyebrows went up, waiting as the major slowly shook his head, shrinking a little under the stern look.

“That your losing that astoundingly stupid display means that that man wins the rights for me, and then I now really can’t go back to that planet at all if I want my dignity to stay intact,” and Lorne shrank more, remembering the fascinated, exhilarated look on the tall botanist’s face when they had first walked onto the planet, plants gigantic formations of reds and purples, “because he’ll assume he can just take me to bed? Still no?”

Lorne tried an apologetic smile, looking nervous, and Parrish groaned, standing. “Next time, Major,” he told him, exasperated, “please try to _have_ me before you _lose_ me, yes?” He sent the Marine a last look before striding out of the room towards the labs.

Lorne sat there, a little confounded but mostly stunned out of his mind, trying to decide if he’d just hallucinated that conversation. The quirk at the corner of the man’s mouth hit him suddenly and he hopped to his feet, almost knocking into Carson on his way storming out of the infirmary.

“David! Hey, David, come back!”

David Parrish walked on jauntily and listened to the rapidly approaching footsteps with only a hint of a smile. “And maybe you should work on your knife play.” He called back, and laughed to himself at the resulting stumble.

  
In the mess. Lunch. Just lunch with a scientist who was an occasional part of his team. Lunch. Lunch with their knees occasionally banging under the table, both sitting across from Katie Brown as she and Parrish talked about plants, and how could he seriously care this much about a geek who got off talking about pistils and, god forbid, made jokes about how the trees were always having sex around them.

Lunch and he was consistently and painfully aware of the heat coming off the man beside him, of the scant inches between them, and of the very things that might happen to him if anyone at the SGC caught wind of their going-ons. So it probably wasn’t completely his fault that he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings, especially considering his complete lack of interest in botany.

He was startled back into the conversation by the sharp sound of David’s metal fork as the man slammed it down on the table, and glanced at both scientists. They were staring at him, Katie cautiously curious, Parrish drawn, a heavy look of displeasure in his lidded eyes and the tightness around his mouth. “If you paid a little attention instead of flinching away every time I accidentally touch you in public you might’ve noticed your superior is too busy staring at his boyfriend’s ass to care who you’re sleeping with. Oh, and, everyone on this damn expedition cares enough about their own that if word actually got out every damn woman in the city that wasn’t already spoken for or under your command would willingly pretend to be your girlfriend to disprove the theory. But hey, if you’d prefer, we can always stop.”

And without any more words, or glances, or- anything, Parrish stood abruptly and stormed away. Lorne glanced at Katie and sighed when her eyebrow went up abruptly in a way that reminded him far too much of David’s ‘you idiot’ look; he stood and went after. This seemed to be happening an awful lot these days.


End file.
